TERRY MOSHER

 

TREY ADAMS

As someone that has been around football for over 60 years (and covered Washington Husky football for nearly 30 years), it sometimes gets tough watching football on TV because I can often see what is happening and needs correcting.

Take this weekend when both Washington schools unexpectedly lost, one in California and one in the Arizona desert.

Washington State’s loss to California 37-3 was disheartening for the reason that it was a thorough drubbing to a team that the week before lost to the Washington Huskies 38-7, although to be fair I thought the Bears against the Huskies played hard and tough and seemed to be always around the ball. But in the second half, the Washington offensive line just manhandled the Bears, enabling the Huskies to pull away.

It was pretty obvious how the Bears managed to down the WSU Cougars. They blitzed their linebackers almost on every play and put a tremendous amount of pressure on quarterback Luke Falk, who was sacked nine times and hurried countless other times.

Falk never looked comfortable and had a miserable day as the Bears swarmed all over him. He threw five interceptions and the Cougars had seven total turnovers and when a team has that many it seldom can overcome them and win.

In the second half, the Bears also ran roughshod over the left side against a tiring WSU defensive front to further put the dagger into the heart of the Cougars. It finished off what was a stunning Cal victory.

Falk has been going up the ladder as a top NFL draft pick based on incredible numbers he had accumulated prior to the Cal disaster. But what I have seen the past two Cougar games is a quarterback who hesitates too long in delivering the ball. He has a quick release and in coach Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense has been able to throw the ball all around the field to different receivers. But I have noticed that when his primary receiver is not open he seems to blank out for just a second or two and that allows defenders to hurry his throw or to hit him or even sack him.

I’m not saying he’s a bad quarterback. Unless something awful happens to him, he will likely be a high NFL draft pick and do well in the league. But I notice him hanging on the ball a little too long and that will have to change once he gets to the NFL.

The way to defeat a team that blitzes its linebackers is to throw quick darts behind those ‘backers and that is what the Cougars attempted to do to start the second half. But then they went away from that and, well, you saw the result.

I think Mike Leach is a good coach, which is fairly obvious for what he has accomplished since arriving to Pullman. But I don’t like his stubborn adherence to the Air Raid. Against good teams, that offense can be slowed down because there is little risk of them being attacked on the ground. In one game last year, and I forget which one that was, Leach unleashed a ground attack with three good running backs and the Cougars romped.  He has three good running backs this season in Jamal Morrow, James Williams and Gerald Wicks, but other than Morrow is not used much. I believe if he would balance out his attack between the pass and run the Cougars would be pretty tough to beat. But I don’t believe Leach is going to change, and that is a handicap against better teams.

The Arizona Sun Devils used the opposite approach to downing Washington quarterback Jake Browning and the Huskies in their 13-7 shocking upset of the fifth-ranked and unbeaten Huskies in the desert.

Instead of blitzing ‘backers, coach Todd Graham used a three-man rush with eight defenders in the secondary. They played mostly man coverage on the outside and zoned in the middle.

The surprising thing is that the Sun Devils’ three-man rush was disruptive all game and harassed Browning into mediocrity. They sacked Browning five times, collected nine tackles for losses and forced a Browning fumble.  Browning was 17 for 30 on his passes for just 139 yards.

Late in the game, the Huskies gained some traction in their running game, but by then it was too little too late. It also didn’t help that they had a long TD run by freshman Salvon Ahmed called back on a holding penalty or that their horrible kicking game resulted in two short field goal attempts to be missed. A top caliber football team is not top caliber when it’s kicking game is so bad, and the Huskies kicking game is bad.

It also didn’t help Washington that Arizona State had a by-week before playing the Huskies. That gave Graham and his staff plenty of time to devise a great game plan and get his players fired up.

Despite all that, the Huskies still could have won.They had that Ahmed TD called back and missed two field goals and if you give them those, the Huskies win 20-13.

But ifs don’t win games, and the Huskies were outcoached and outplayed.

And the Huskies lost more than the game. They lost outstanding left tackle Trey Adams to a knee injury and junior cornerback Jordan Miller to a leg injury on what was the last play of the game (ASU ran out the clock by taking a knee after Miller got hurt). They now have lost both starting cornerbacks (Bryon Murphy, freshman from Scottsdale who suffered a broken foot in practice before the Colorado game) which puts a serious dent in what has been excellent pass coverage.

A bright note is that the Huskies now have a by-week before hosting Josh Rosen and UCLA on Oct. 28. Rosen may be a first-round NFL draft pick. He is moving up the charts, although the Bruins are moving down the charts, having lost three of their last four and are 3-3 and fourth in the Pac-12 South.

That’s it for today. I’m outta here.

Be well pal.

Be careful out there.

Have a great day.

You are loved.